• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
Trending:
  • Kashmir
  • Elections
Thursday, July 10, 2025

Daily Times

Your right to know

  • HOME
  • Latest
  • Iran-Israel Tensions
  • Pakistan
    • Balochistan
    • Gilgit Baltistan
    • Khyber Pakhtunkhwa
    • Punjab
    • Sindh
  • World
  • Editorials & Opinions
    • Editorials
    • Op-Eds
    • Commentary / Insight
    • Perspectives
    • Cartoons
    • Letters to the Editor
    • Featured
    • Blogs
      • Pakistan
      • World
      • Ramblings
      • Lifestyle
      • Culture
      • Sports
  • Business
  • Sports
  • Lifestyle
  • E-PAPER
    • Lahore
    • Islamabad
    • Karachi

Drone Horrors

Drone warfare in Waziristan has long been legitimised through a discourse on humanism that claims very low rates of civilian casualties and a concerted effort to spare the lives of the innocent. But what of the two children who lost their lives to a drone strike in South Waziristan just yesterday? Pakistan has denied that they initiated the drone strike but if they didn’t, answers should be sought regarding who did.

Drone strikes in Waziristan have killed a substantial number of civilians in the past; tearing apart Waziri civil society and further cultivating a culture of terror. We now know that drone essentialism-a conviction claiming that drones are used in a way to minimise suffering-conceals a process that has enabled drones to become terror weapons.

These were the same justifications provided by the US when it waged its war on terror against Pakistan; arguing that it represented a kinder way of fighting insurgents more in line with international statutes on war-so precise that they kill only the intended target, magically sparing everyone else.

But the truth is that drone operators themselves do not know how many civilians lie in collapsed buildings. In a war where insurgents do not wear uniforms, they use a flawed methodology that counts all military-aged males in a strike zone as combatants.

While there are no reliable accounts of the exact number of casualties produced by drone attacks, the error rate is incredibly high. Material casualties set aside, the terror of drone strikes lies in their ability to impart psychological and cultural damage.

Even when drones kill relatively few people, they terrify many more. It is impossible to uproot terrorism through a culture of fear for the innocents who watch and hear the incessant buzzing of drones circling and hovering over their neighbourhoods for hours, sometimes, for days at a time. That alone is enough to ruin someone’s life. Imagine the horror when they actually die due to such a strike. *

Filed Under: Education

Submit a Comment




Primary Sidebar




Latest News

Bilawal wants India-Pak youth to write common destiny of peace: Pakistan is terror victim, not a facilitator, Bilawal tells India

Pakistan, Türkiye aim for $5bn trade volume

Govt enacts law to regulate VAs, plans pilot for digital currency

DIB arranges $1bn sovereign financing for Pakistan

US terms India’s claim of no role in Pakistan truce false

Pakistan

Bilawal wants India-Pak youth to write common destiny of peace: Pakistan is terror victim, not a facilitator, Bilawal tells India

Pakistan, Türkiye aim for $5bn trade volume

Govt enacts law to regulate VAs, plans pilot for digital currency

DIB arranges $1bn sovereign financing for Pakistan

US terms India’s claim of no role in Pakistan truce false

More Posts from this Category

Business

Remittances hit record $38.3bn in FY25, with spike surpassing IMF package

Gold prices dip by Rs3,000 per tola

PSX down by 826 points

Rupee weakens against dollar

Finmin reaffirms commitment to consultative policy framework

More Posts from this Category

World

X’s CEO to step down in surprise move

Russia hits Ukraine with largest drone, missile attack

Indian workers go on a daylong nationwide strike against Modi’s economic reforms

More Posts from this Category




punjab

Footer

Home
Lead Stories
Latest News
Editor’s Picks

Culture
Life & Style
Featured
Videos

Editorials
OP-EDS
Commentary
Advertise

Cartoons
Letters
Blogs
Privacy Policy

Contact
Company’s Financials
Investor Information
Terms & Conditions

Facebook
Twitter
Instagram
Youtube

© 2025 Daily Times. All rights reserved.

We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. If you continue to use this site we will assume that you are happy with it.OkPrivacy policy